Category Archives: Photographs

Redbud Thoughts

Posted on July 27, 2016 by John | 1 comment

March 15, 2016

112°

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Posted in Photographs

Tagged photography

GRACKLE BATH

Posted on July 26, 2016 by John | Leave a comment

Everyone out early in the heat
before the earth is too hot to touch,
a Grackle shakes the last drops

of a morning bath to preen
and quickly drip-dry upon a rock.
Time essential, we squeeze the work

beneath the angle of a risen sun
that by ten bakes all living things.
Everyone out early when we meet.

RED-TAIL TALK

Posted on July 25, 2016 by John | 7 comments

Sometimes they come to take a look,
glide in low with all their tools
from a bare oak branch to see just who

spoiled the plan to dine on squirrel
straying too far from its earthen burrow—
and perhaps too, to take a moment

to deliver their displeasure, face-to face,
eye-to-eye, to make sure you know
that you screwed up.

7 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2016

Tagged photography, poetry

APRIL 4, 1969

Posted on July 24, 2016 by John | 1 comment

It may be possible
upon reflection
after a wet spring,

mottled sun beneath
the canopy of sycamores
standing, frozen still

upon black water.
The sloshing sound
of my wet feet

not ready to walk
to Canada,
leave the creek

and family behind,
become outlaw
in their mind.

It may be possible
to fill those channels
again, rain until

the road flows by.
And when the earth
is full, excess standing,

I may look down
upon heaven’s clouds
with no direction.

After the odyssey in Charles Frazier’s “Cold Mountain” and Leonard Durso’s poem “a thousand years ago on some coastline in the fall.”

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015

Tagged photography, poetry

Pelicans at Sunset

Posted on July 22, 2016 by John | 2 comments

With processing the replacement heifers behind us, irrigation water off and the ranch in the capable hands of Terri Drewry Blanke and Allie Fry, Robbin and I slipped off to the 70° weather of Cambria for a couple of days. Mid-week on Moonstone Beach was relatively quiet, sparsely occupied for the most part by old people and their dogs with only a couple of gangs of unobtrusive city urchins learning a little about the beach and the unpredictable habits of waves.

It seems the only chance I get to read much beyond a long poem is when we get away from home. Though I’d seen the movie “Cold Mountain” years back, I began the written version while were there, enthralled with Charles Frazier’s prosaic style, chuck-a-block full of similes and metaphor à la the vernacular of the Civil War period. I ought to finish the book this weekend and catch the movie one more time on HBO.

We also managed to over-satisfy our ambitious quest for of seafood that ought to last us for quite a while. We’re glad to be back home, rested and ready to get back into our ranch routines.

2 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

Tagged "Cold Mountain", Cambria, Charles Frazier

SEA GODDESS

Posted on July 21, 2016 by John | 1 comment

An unrelenting beast serene, the sea
laps land into sand–and man’s short trail
of broken glass into translucent jewels–

yet neither heart nor compassion
ride upon her constant undulations
cresting white before they crash

within the foamy broth of time, stirring all
into another fresh instant. It should be
she, when we pray for storms, or for

relief from lustful passion. I do not care
to know her well, embraced inland
at a distance, my words come carefully.

1 Comment

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2016

Tagged photography, poetry

Summer Heron

Posted on July 18, 2016 by John | 4 comments

4 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

Tagged Great Blue Heron, photography

Our Future

Posted on July 17, 2016 by John | 3 comments

According to my records, we’ve only had two days since the Solstice under 100°, but the mornings have been fairly cool from first light until 9:00 a.m. This morning was no exception, simply a beautiful Sabbath.

We’ve kept our replacement heifers close to the corrals since they were weaned in May and June, waiting for their Bangs vaccination for Brucellosis and second round of shots, deworming and fly control that has entailed pumping water daily. We’ve had a lot of eye problems due to foxtails and some foot rot due to bacteria encouraged by the wet spring. Having them close by has helped us gather for doctoring.

We think this year’s heifers are exceptional, both in genetics and temperament. They have gotten to know the Kubota since they were calves, and then again when it brought hay everyday to the weaning pen. So we utilize the Kubota when we gather—they come to it naturally.

Saturday, after Friday’s processing, I led the bunch off the dry feed and irrigated pasture, fed some hay, ready to open them to 300 more acres of dry feed and another source of water, our irrigation pond. By this morning, they were exploring the shore of the pond when I arrived to see how they were doing. Naturally, they all gravitated to the Kubota to discover tall, untouched green feed in the spillway of the pond where excess water flows back into the Kaweah River.

Followers of this blog know it’s all about the girls, our prejudice for females—after all we are a cow/calf outfit. Though we were quite pleased with our steers, it’s not about bragging rights as to how big or nice they were in the sales ring—just an annual dividend, they pay our bills. It’s about the girls, two-thirds of which, with a little luck, will be with us for ten years. They become our future.